Royals Win Error-Filled Game

Game Date: July 20, 2006
Game Score: Royals 9, Angels 4 / Box Score
WP: Dessens (5-7), LP: Gregg (2-3)
Royal Home Runs: None
Royals Record: 33-62

How the Angles have managed to stay over .500 with their defense is beyond me. Four errors, three wild pitches, and a passed ball—and Vlad looks so slow in the outfield. You’ve got to hand it to the Royals, they took advantage of the miscues and turned it into a W.

Ervin Santana was wild (8 walks worth of wildness) and when umpires asked him on two occasions to tuck in that ridiculous tag on his shirt that he allows to flail in the wind, he looked irate. Maybe he couldn’t get it tucked in because of the large gold rope of a necklace he was wearing. Or maybe it was that weird black string hanging out of his jersey. Who knows. But I think it’s time that Ervin learned that baseball is about baseball—it’s not a bad fashion show.

Jimmy Gobble only lasted four innings again last night. We don’t have any other options at this point, but he’s 25 years old. If he doesn’t have the endurance to go deeper in games by now, he probably never will. His ERA has risen to nearly 5.00 since becoming a starter and he’s clearly better suited for middle relief. Unfortunately, the Royals used a sandwich pick between the first and second rounds of the 1999 draft to get him—which is way too high for a middle reliever.

Several Royals’ had big nights at the plate. DeJesus was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a walk. Grudzielanek was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and a walk. Mientkiewicz was 2-for-3 with 1 RBI and a walk. Teahen was 2-for-4 with 1 RBI and a walk (noticing a pattern here?). Joey Gathright was 2-for-3 with 1 RBI. And, stop the presses—Angel Berroa was 1-for-3 with 1 RBI and 2 WALKS—in one game, which means he’s finally reached double digits for the season. He also made an error, which means he still has more errors (11) than walks (10). I still think he has a shot to commit more errors this season than he’ll walk, but we’ll see. The race is on.

Dessens was solid in middle relief—going three innings, and giving up no runs on one hit. And Burgos pitched well over the final two innings.

The Royals are calling up Runelvys Hernandez to make the start tonight since both Elarton and Wood are on the shelf. Hernandez was 5-6 with a 4.59 ERA with a 1.42 WHIP in Omaha. Hardly stellar numbers for a guy who was once thought to be a mainstay in the rotation in KC. At the major league level this season he’s 1-4 with a 7.44 ERA. Bartolo Colon (1-4, 4.56) will get the start for the Angels. He’s 13-6 in his career against the Royals with a 4.75 ERA.